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Monday, November 29, 2010

Let the magic begin! (The mantels.)

Well hello there!! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! We had such a fantastic time, but there wasn’t much resting, shopping or decorating going on.

Just a lot of this:

And this:

And this!

And watching our sweet Bub experience many firsts – first subway ride, first musical, first trip on an airplane:

That’s him watching our plane pull up to the gate. Giddy. Adorable. :)

Since we’ve returned, I’ve finally done a bit of resting (cause NYC kicks my booty!), way too much shopping and some Christmas decorating. I started with the mantels to kick off our Holiday Home linky parties!:

The first one goes up Tuesday at noon over at Layla’s place. :)

I’ve discovered the perfect recipe for Christmas decor that I luuuurve. It’s so simple – greenery, red stuff and a few touches of nature. That’s it. I mix up those three and I’m one happy chick.

I’ve also discovered I love fluffy greenery so much it’s just sick. I need someone to stop me from adding and adding and fluffing and fluffing…big fat greenery makes me HAPPY. :)

My mantels haven’t changed much since last year, I just added a little more greenery (shocking) and some HomeGoods finds. The base started with some basic greenery I’ve had used for years. But it needed some poofing, so last year I found some fantastic greenery at Big Lots of all places, and I’m kind of obsessed with it. I got a few more this week:

I just snip it apart and stick it in here and there in the basic, cheap greenery. It works GREAT and makes it look so much more expensive! In my opinion full and fluffy equals expensivelooking.

After that, it’s just more fluffing and adding – sticks:

Beady stuff, dollar store ornaments and pinecones:

And there. you. go. I would stuff a cat in there if it would stay, seriously. I just can’t stop. :)

A few weeks ago while shopping for my Mom Cave, I found an adorable (big! lighted!) reindeer for $20, so I paired him with my little red adorable reindeer I found at HomeGoods last year:

By the way, I saw that exact same large reindeer at Pier 1 for I think $60? It’s identical! Whoohoo!

Upstairs, I did almost exactly what I have in years past, but couldn’t resist a bit more fluff, of course.

Because I try to use what I have as much as possible in Christmas decor, I wanted to keep the current stuff up there, but the garland kept falling off around it. I picked up some Command Strips at True Value and laid a couple right on the top of the mantel:

I just hooked the greenery to it and it worked perfectly!

Here’s a shot of the difference some fluffing can do – on the left, I’ve started stuffing my Big Lots good stuff in. On the right, it’s just the basic garland:

Here it is again, with a bunch o’ stuff thrown in:

Again, I just add till it looks right – ornaments, pinecones, the cat, whatever!

A few years ago, I got some cheap wood letters from the craft store, painted them red and then hung them from ribbon. I hang them from my wallpaper art every year and it’s such a big impact for so cheap!

Instead of hot gluing them like usual, I picked up some tacks from True Value and used those to secure the ribbon to the backs of the canvases:

And that’s it!

I just love the bright red against the black!:

RED makes me SMILE. :)

Our bedroom mantel, transformed with some greenery and a few changes to what we already have:

YES, I know…the cord. It’s giving me hives. But I have two more trees to get up and ten more bins to empty, umkay? Priorities people. But OH YES, it will be covered…

The candles are fake, no worries. :)

And of course, I love them best at night:

Ahhhh…that’s the magic!! :) LOVE. Be sure to link up tomorrow at Layla’s. I can’t wait to see what you’ve created!

P.S. I think I said “fluff” 89 times. Or so.

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*

Very pretty. I really like the lights mixed in with the greenery. I am hoping to get some greenery from one of the tree lots this year so I can do what you did. Green, red, a little nature and wahlah!Christmas!!~Ames

All that fluffing and adding really did the trick. I can't believe I haven't thought of that! I've got a garland that can be spruced up too and you've given me the perfect and most affordable idea. Thanks so much! Beautiful decorating!

Very pretty! Yesterday I repainted the brick around my mantel. About three years ago my husband painted it with the wrong shade of white and while he can't tell the difference, it's been driving me crazy. So I FINALLY said, "Enough! I'm not decorating the mantel 'til the white is right!" I so proud of myself! I am not a "project-in-a-day" gal, but I got it done! On to the fun stuff!

Beautiful mantles! I have greenery on my mantle year round (in my opinion it goes with my rustic theme) and am always trying to place stuff so I it doesn't look quite so blah! I never thought of adding more greenery to my greenery. Silly me! Thanks for the tip!

If you're not super artsy (which I am not necessarily) I would recommend checking out your local goodwill or thrift store for very inexpensive holiday decor. They usually have aisles full of the stuff. Buried beneath the mounds of tacky, useless decor, you can find simple and elegant decor for 10's of dollars less than you would pay at your local department store. So if you're looking for some inexpensive holiday decor, look up your local Goodwill!!

Beautiful decorations! I love to idea of taking what you have and just embellishing it!

And NYC at Christmas, should be on everyone's bucket list! It's quite the sight. We went in 2008, saw the Rockettes, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Macy's and Lord and Taylor window, the works. Gorgeous! It has ruined me for any other city during the holidays.

Your mantles look amazing! No surprise there! I don't have a fireplace but I do have two 6' windows in my family room with marble sills. I decorate them as I would a mantle. I've always liked the greenery with the red...so christmassy! I didn't see stockings on your fireplace...do you hang them somewhere else or do you not have them up yet (or maybe this is something you and your family doesn't do?) I was just curious. Love all your deco ideas - hope you don't mind if I flatter you (copy you) like crazy! lol

Both mantles are beautifully done! It's hard to beat the traditional reds and greens of the Christmas season. I too love using "greens", but switched to a more sparse evergreen garland this year. I like it, something different. :)

Your mantel(s) look SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just love them!!!! I will be posting my mantle soon. It is done, just haven't gotten good pics yet! Have you been over to my blog yet???? Please stop over! XO, Pinky

I am completely new to this "blog" thing. I stumbled upon your blog when I typed in "mantle ideas" months ago. It opened up that whole new blog world to me! Yours is still my favorite! It took a long time to post something (mainly because I had no clue on how to...) but since you have your beautiful Xmas mantels up, I thought how appropriate to thank you for your posts finally. I love your style and I feel I had an instant connection w/ almost EVERYTHING you say, do and decorate! I have a 4 yr old boy I call "Bubs" or "Bubby" (along w/ 12 yr old daughter), I love to spraypaint furniture black, and love love love to decorate on the cheap! I feel very corny sending a message but my Bubby is home w/ the throw up bug, and I finally sat down long enough to post. I think it was meant to be when I was directed to your blog. Thank you for entertaining and inspiring me! ~Shelley

I am completely new to this "blog" thing. I stumbled upon your blog when I typed in "mantle ideas" months ago. It opened up that whole new blog world to me! Yours is still my favorite! It took a long time to post something (mainly because I had no clue on how to...) but since you have your beautiful Xmas mantels up, I thought how appropriate to thank you for your posts finally. I love your style and I feel I had an instant connection w/ almost EVERYTHING you say, do and decorate! I have a 4 yr old boy I call "Bubs" or "Bubby" (along w/ 12 yr old daughter), I love to spraypaint furniture black, and love love love to decorate on the cheap! I feel very corny sending a message but my Bubby is home w/ the throw up bug, and I finally sat down long enough to post. I think it was meant to be when I was directed to your blog. Thank you for entertaining and inspiring me! ~Shelley

I love the mantles. I did something similar with one of mine this year. I was actually really pleased with it! I think my decorating skills improve each year and I love getting inspirations from blogs like yours!